


Questions

by avid_audience



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen, This sounds worse than it is now, but I'd rather be safe than sorry, introspections of a scientist, mentions of dead bodies and experimentation on livings beings, reflections on the Mandalorian and the Asset by Doctor Pershing, very slight cruelty towards The Asset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-25
Updated: 2019-11-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:20:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21564424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/avid_audience/pseuds/avid_audience
Summary: Doctor Pershing reflects on the recapture of the Asset by the Mandalorian and what it means.
Comments: 20
Kudos: 156





	Questions

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!  
> I saw Friday's Episode and was fascinated by Doctor Pershing, so here's my take on what's in his head.  
> Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or the characters.

Doctor Pershing didn't consider himself a particularly violent or cruel person. Yes, he had done things others might find distasteful, but he had never done so with the intent of being cruel. Instead, it was science, the thirst for knowledge, that drove him. It had started early on. He still vaguely remembered his mother telling him and his brother about the heroic exploits of the Jedi, before the Empire. And while his brother had always wanted to act out lightsabre battles, he had asked his mother about the how and why. Why did some people have the Force and how where they different from all the others? And he had continued asking questions until he found himself in Imperial science programmes researching Midichlorians. During his studies, he kept on asking: How do Midichlorians function? How do they interact with other body cells? Why do some species, like the Wookies, rarely have a high Midichlorian count? And whenever he had found the answer to one of his questions, another had presented itself. So of course he had experimented on living specimens before. But never with the wish to hurt and only ever on adults.

Today, Pershing was quickly finding that he had to reevaluate his opinion of himself. The tiny bundle on the examination table was squirming and screeching at the top of its lungs; so much so that the doctor wished he could put his hands over his ears. A trooper was holding it down – the feisty little thing had already tried to escape once when he wasn't looking by dangling itself off the table. Really, he hadn't thought it had the strength. Now he was forced to sedate it for the examination. He held up the syringe, but still he hesitated. He realised he felt sorry. He was feeling sorry for his object of research for the first time in his entire career. But still, he had to do it. His own safety was at stake, as his own boss had put it. And if he didn't, he would be left stranded here in the best case. And he was honest enough with himself to realise he had no skills whatsoever necessary to survive on a backwater planet like this. The little guy would quite probably be killed anyway, even if he didn't agree with that decision. So he put it under and started the extraction of its DNA.

Looking down on the asset now, he realised he didn't just regret all the research he would never get to do – Why is this species so often highly Force-sensitive? Do they really live that long? - he also regretted hurting the child, that he wouldn't be able to save it. He pitied it. So when the bounty hunter barrelled into the room shooting the trooper, he moved to protect the child. When he was thrown to the side like a rag doll, he wasn't only afraid for his life. No. He also felt that it was – at least slightly - justified. The doctor didn't want to die, but he absolutely expected to. So he rambled on, his last confession before being shot. When he looked up and the hunter had disappeared, his first feeling was not relief. It was surprise.

Only ten minutes later, he was standing in his boss's office watching him snarl at his troopers and curse their incompetence. The troopers didn't respond and seemed on edge as a whole. Understandable, given the barbecue of their colleague outside. Just then, another one came into the room with news.  
“Well? Did the bounty hunters get him? Is the asset terminated?” asked his boss.  
The trooper hesitated.  
“No, sir. It seemed like they had him cornered, but then...”  
“Then what? Get it out!”  
“Then the Mandalorians showed up. Like a whole squad! And they had jet packs and rocket launchers...”  
“... And the Mandalorian and the asset?”  
“ Got away, sir.”  
His boss grimaced and let out a quiet snarl. Then he appeared to catch himself and turned away. Pershing had been working for him long enough to know what he was doing: straightening his clothes and making sure the necklace with the Empire's symbol was centered. Crystal-clear signs to anyone who knew him. He was as angry as he could be. And that never boded well for the person at the receiving end of his fury.  
He turned back to his troopers and indicated them in turns.  
“You lot will go back to guard duty. You three will clear away the bodies. And you will go to Greef Karga and inform him that we offer triple our original price for proof of termination of the asset and the Mandalorian bounty hunter.”  
Pershing was taken aback. Triple? That was a lot of valuable beskar they might have use of for other ventures. So he spoke up without thinking further.  
“Why would we offer so much? We have already got what we wanted from the child.”  
His boss looked at him disdainfully.  
“You simpleton. Why do you think the Mandalorian came back for the asset in contradiction of the Guild's Code? An enemy faction must have heard of our endeavours and offered him even more to recapture the bounty. We must find out who it was, and keep them from receiving their prize.”

The doctor considered that assumption. He found that something about it didn't sit right with him, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. He thought back to the encounter with the Mandalorian. His memories were blurred, fuzzy. He remembered preparing another procedure on the asset, the stormtrooper behind him being shot... He remembered standing to shield the child and pleading for his life... but the hunter hadn't shot him; he had shot the interrogation droid which had been moving towards the asset. Then the Mandalorian had asked what he had done to it... And the same again, enraged. And it hadn't appeared to be the rage of a man whose bounty had just dropped in value due to being damaged, it had seemed... personal. When he had claimed that the child was only still alive because of him, the bounty hunter had let him live.  
Though it seemed improbable, all evidence pointed to the conclusion that the Mandalorian had come back for the child of his own volition, not because someone paid him to. Why would he shoot the droid and not the scientist? Why would he be concerned for the child's well-being? And why did he leave the lead scientist alive if he was working for an enemy? No, the doctor was quite certain that his theory was the correct one.  
Doctor Pershing opened his mouth. Then he noticed all the troopers had left on their errands and he was alone with his boss. He was looking at Pershing scornfully.  
“Don't you have anything of value to do?”  
Doctor Pershing closed his mouth, said “Of course, sir.”, bowed his head respectfully and left through the side door. It swished closed behind him.  
He had decided not to tell his boss about his conclusion. Let them divide their resources to hunt the non-existent enemy faction. It would give the child and its (“rather vicious” he thought as he stepped past the remains of several troopers) protector a slight advantage which they could sorely use. Every bounty hunter in the parsec would be after them now.  
Not to mention Doctor Pershing knew that his usefulness to his boss was nearing its end. And who knew whether information like that might not prove helpful in future?

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate all constructive comments =)


End file.
